THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS. 13 



hitherto tried to do so have failed. Hankow is the city whence 

 rhubarb is brought to the coast for shipment to Europe, and it 

 is a journey of 600 miles from Shanghai ; but it is by no means in 

 the rhubarb country : no, that drug, or at least the best qualities 

 of it, are produced in Kansiih, 800 miles from Hankow, and in a 

 region hitherto unvisited by Europeans." (October 24, 1868.) 



Subsequently he verified the plant producing the Rhubarb. 

 rheum of pharmacy ; grew a specimen in the garden at 

 Clapham, and introduced its cultivation at Banbury. An 

 authenticated specimen of rhubarb taken from the very 

 spot of its production was sent to him for inspection, but 

 it came too late. 



It was with no affectation that he once wrote, " The 

 fourth page of your note contains such a gross mistake 

 about myself that I must correct it by assuring you that 

 it is as hard as iron for me to compose a decent piece of 

 English in fact, quite impossible, unless it is written 

 out two or three times." 



For twelve years (from June 1860 to May 1872) he Examiner 

 was on the Board of Examiners of the Pharmaceutical years. 

 Society, being, according to his own view, seven years 

 too long : he considered a five years' tenure of office the 

 furthest advisable period. During the whole time he 

 confined his attention to Botany and Materia Medica. 

 His strictly pharmaceutical work was limited, and it did 

 not claim his first attention, though he compiled two 

 volumes of autograph prescriptions. The one retained 

 in his own possession was not remarkable. At the 

 evening meetings of the Society he was a constant 

 attendant, but not a speaker, for his was not the gift of 

 the impromptu : all the more reason that we should give 

 one specimen of what he thought about a subject that 

 has again attracted notice. 



